大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 4.6

4.6

Regarding the sūtra saying: "Free from such faults": examples of this are numerous; one who grasps the principle should naturally make the discernment on the spot. That is, the ground may be sloping, or unevenly high and low, or its color and taste may not accord with the holy teachings. Among colors, yellow and white are superior; if purely black, it is unusable. As for tasting it, if sweet or bland, it is good; if pungent, bitter, salty, astringent, and so forth, it is unusable. Or if one digs it and refills the pit, if the soil does not fill it, it is unusable; if it refills to overflowing, it is good. Furthermore, within a single location, the southern side is inferior ground, suitable only for performing ābhicāruka [rites]. Furthermore, once the ācārya knows that the disciple's mental ground is fit for erecting the mahākaruṇā-maṇḍala within it, he should abide in deep samādhi, examine and discern it closely, and with wisdom select and weed out the unusable, heterogeneous, and defiled taints; thereafter, he works it until it is firm and solid, adorning it. Otherwise, the residual traces of past karma could give rise to hindrances. "Gravel" is like the views of disbelieving the true Dharma, stubbornly clinging to the self-aspect, denying cause and effect, and so on; because they are hard to carve or moisten, they can never sprout the shoots of goodness, and even if one applies effort to refine and cultivate them, nothing comes forth, and their subtle clingings are exceedingly numerous and mutually incompatible; hence they are compared to sand and gravel. "Broken tiles and potsherds" are like committing the five heinous offenses, violating the four grave prohibitions, slandering the vaipulya sūtras, and so forth; because the mind-vessel is ruined, it is of no use, and even if the flavor of the Dharma is poured in, it does not remain, being cast away by all virtuous assemblies; one should first use the hands of wise expedients to sift out and remove such obstacles. "Skulls" are like the obstacle of destroying the bodhicitta. In former times it once possessed human dharma and was the supreme head among the many limbs; because the life-faculty was cut off, the hundred parts collapsed, incapable of any function. Due to this bad habit, even if they are made to bring forth the bodhicitta again, it turns back into an obstacle, and they spontaneously take pleasure in backsliding; hence it is especially fitting to wash it clean so as to exhaust the residual traces. "Hair" refers to the sixty minds and so forth; they are born together with the eight minds that are the seeds of goodness, and as soon as they are perceived, they should be removed and clipped. Before attaining the supramundane mind, they arise in a mixed and confused fashion, difficult to untangle; hence they are called "hair." "Chaff and husks" are like the false imaginings of ignorance; because of clinging to prapañca, one obtains only the skin of name and characteristic, losing the rice of dharmatā; hence it is used as an analogy. "Ashes and charcoal" refer to delighting in lesser dharmas and giving rise to the mind of the two vehicles; if the good roots are burnt by this, they reduce to ashes and extinction, not producing the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits of mahākaruṇā; hence it is used as an analogy. "Thorny bones" refer to having in the past performed various non-beneficial actions toward sentient beings, violating various minor vinaya rules. These are the residual obstacles of past lives, deaths, and old retributions; hence they are called "bones." "Rotting wood" refers to the type that lacks desire and is indolent, unfit for planting, cultivating, or crafting. Furthermore, the Sanskrit text also carries the sense of a tree stump (*sthāṇu*), meaning that from long ago, one has had an ingrained habituation toward the defilements, and the remaining stumps are deeply rooted and difficult to uproot. Because such past karmas are harbored within the mental ground, when practicing the Way with a single mind, māra affairs easily arise; hence one must examine and select beforehand. If they are too numerous to sift, one should abandon this ground and turn to other capacities. "Insects, ants, dung beetles, and venomous stinging creatures" symbolize various active defilements: ants symbolize delusion, dung beetles symbolize greed, and venomous creatures symbolize anger. Such types are very numerous, symbolizing various subsidiary defilements (upakleśa). The tiny ones symbolize immeasurable evil perceptions and views. Seeing that these creatures all possess the Tathāgata-nature, one should especially protect them and not cause their life-faculty to be cut off; merely use expedient means to drive them away so that they do not obstruct the practice of the Way or defile the maṇḍala. If one wishes to make the bodhimaṇḍa utterly pure, the one hundred and sixty kinds of superior, middling, and inferior subtle defilements should all be weeded out without remainder. Even in the ground for abhiṣeka, anything that is not fine, pure earth should be entirely removed; only then is it named ultimate purity.